HOW TO OPEN AN ENGLISH MUFFIN RECIPES

Steps:

• Warm the milk in a small saucepan until it bubbles, then remove from heat. Mix in the sugar, stirring until dissolved. Let cool until lukewarm. In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
• In a large bowl, combine the milk, yeast mixture, shortening and 3 cups flour. Beat until smooth. Add salt and rest of flour, or enough to make a soft dough. Knead. Place in greased bowl, cover, and let rise.
• Punch down. Roll out to about 1/2 inch thick. Cut rounds with biscuit cutter, drinking glass, or empty tuna can. Sprinkle waxed paper with cornmeal and set the rounds on this to rise. Dust tops of muffins with cornmeal also. Cover and let rise 1/2 hour.
• Heat greased griddle. Cook muffins on griddle about 10 minutes on each side on medium heat. Keep baked muffins in a warm oven until all have been cooked. Allow to cool and place in plastic bags for storage. To use, split and toast. Great with orange butter, or cream cheese and jam.

Steps:

• In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, sugar, and yeast.
• In a separate small bowl, combine the melted butter and warm water. Slowly pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, and mix with a wooden spoon to combine.
• Lightly flour a work surface, turn the dough out onto it, and knead by hand for 4-5 minutes, until it forms a smooth dough. Let rest for 20 minutes. For maximum flavor, place dough in refrigerator overnight to cold ferment 24 hour fermentation is ideal. Otherwise, continue to step 4.
• Meanwhile, lightly coat a baking sheet with semolina flour. Set aside.
• Divide the dough into 12 equal portions (about 85 grams each).
• Using floured hands, palm a portion of dough in your hand, and and rotate it in a circular motion while pressing down on the dough. This will create a ball with no seams. If the dough gets sticky, coat your hand with a little bit more flour. Coat the ball with semolina flour, then place it on the semolina’ed sheet tray. Repeat with the remaining portions of dough.
• Cover the tray with plastic wrap and let the dough proof for at least 3-5 hours at room temperature 72F). The dough balls will just about double in size.
• Position your Baking Steel Griddle on the stovetop. Preheat on medium heat for 10-15 minutes, looking for a surface temperature of about 275-300 degrees F, or until droplets of water sizzle when dripped onto the surface.
• Brush or pour some of the clarified butter over the surface of your Griddle. Be generous: you really want to coat the entire surface as well as you can without the butter sloshing over. The butter should begin to lightly bubble as soon as you apply it to the surface. Vegan option use Avocado Oil.
• Place the dough balls on the Griddle, a few at a time, and cook for 5 minutes. Once golden on the bottom, flip, adding more clarified butter as needed to allow the dough to swim slightly in butter. After you flip, gently press down on the dough with your spatula to flatten into the signature English muffin shape.
• Once the second side is golden about 5 minutes, remove and transfer to a wire rack to cool.
• Note: This recipe calls for clarified butter, or butter from which the milk solids have been removed, leaving pure butterfat. No, this isn’t just to be fancy. Removing those milk solids gives clarified butter a higher smoke point, which in this recipe helps ensure that you don’t end up with blackened English muffins. If you don’t have clarified butter, you can go vegan and substitute in avocado oil anywhere we ask for clarified butter in the recipe….